i8o Veterinary Medicine. 



active or developing mammae, doubtless have a prostrating influ- 

 ence on the susceptible nervous system. 



4th. All had been fed on clover hay either as an exclusive diet 

 or as part of their ration. This is sufficiently nutritive, as testi- 

 fied by the fat condition of the patients, but it may be that it was 

 too nitrogenous for such an inactive life. Again the clover hay 

 usually abounds in cryptogams and bacteria and their products, 

 which ma}' have contributed somewhat to the asthenia. 



5th. Concurrent diseases, in individual cases or flocks, mani- 

 festly contributed to the general loss of nervous power. In .some 

 the bowels were studded with the nodules of the oesophagostoma, 

 in others oestrus larvae had extensively invaded the nasal sinuses, 

 one had congestion of the mucosa of the small intestines, some 

 had congestion and fatty degeneration of the liver, others had 

 fatty kidneys, and one had a papilloma pressing on the spinal 

 cord. Manifestly diseases and degenerations of various kinds 

 would still further undermine nervous energy and add to the 

 atony. 



Cold and heat did not seem to dominate, as most were kept in 

 warm barns, and wore heavy winter fleeces, while one clipped 

 early in December, and kept in an atmosphere of 40° to 55°, was 

 attacked in the second week of January. 



As this experience was had in a goitre district it may become a 

 question whether the poi.son of this disease was a causative 

 factor. Goitre was not a prominent feature in either ewes or 

 lambs. 



Symptoms. Variable. The most prominent are, leaving the 

 flock, moping alone, grinding the teeth, drooping and trembling 

 of head and ears, temperature normal or subnormal (100.5°), 

 respiration 24, pulse 80, feeds and ruminates sparingly, bowels 

 normal, buccal mucosa pale, conjunctiva In'peraemic, in some 

 cases stupor and partial blindness, the animal walking against 

 racks or fences, walk is slow and unsteady, the muscles feel soft 

 and flabby, the abdomen may be full, but its walls are quite 

 flaccid so that the lambs can be easily felt. As the di.sease ad- 

 vances all .symptoms are aggravated, food is no longer taken, 

 rumination cea.ses, the ewe remains recumbent, cannot be made 

 to ri.se, and when lifted and carried makes no struggle. After 

 24 hours of this helpless condition death supervenes. In .some 



